GoKawiilis a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid.
There’s a new smallest e-reader in my life. The Xteink X3 is even smaller and thinner than Xteink’s X4 while also improving on the X4 with refined (but still far from great) software, simplified buttons, and an improved magnetic mount on the back. It’s a better compact e-reader than the X4 if extreme portability is your priority, but its slimmer design comes at a terrible price that’s a potential deal-breaker. Instead of a USB-C port, the X3 charges through an uncommon magnetic pogo-pin connection.
That was a heartbreaking discovery while unboxing the new X3 because it actually comes with a handful of improvements that make it a solid upgrade. The X3 is a millimeter thinner, a few millimeters narrower, and over half an inch shorter than the X4. It’s much closer in size to a credit card, but while the X3 is just a bit too big to squeeze inside my slim wallet, I can slip the two into my pocket without noticing any added bulk.
When the X4 first popped up last December, it wasn’t just its size that caught our attention. Xteink promoted the X4 with images of it stuck to the back of a smartphone like a MagSafe battery, seemingly promising an e-reader that went everywhere your phone did and a more versatile alternative to e-reader cases. But the odd positioning of the magnets on the back of the X4 and its size prevented it from properly piggybacking on my iPhone 16 Pro without resorting to applying adhesive metal rings and having it awkwardly hang off the bottom.
The position of the magnets on the back of the X3 allow it to mount perfectly to the back of an iPhone 16 Pro, but they’re not strong enough to maintain a secure connection.
I was thrilled to find the X3 fits perfectly on the back of my iPhone 16 Pro, and then once again disappointed to discover its magnets aren’t strong enough to keep it securely in place. Magnetic accessories like PopSockets or the OhSnap Snap Grip have a satisfying “thunk” when attaching them to your phone. Attaching the X3 to my 16 Pro feels more like the devices are exchanging a weak hug. They don’t remain aligned when holding the two together, and on several occasions the X3 fell off my phone while being inserted or removed from a pocket.
The X3 has a smaller 3.7-inch E Ink display than the 4.7-inch panel in the X4, resulting in a slightly higher 250ppi, but the reading experience remains the same and depends on your comfort in focusing on a screen this small. I like sticking to a small font, which demands my reading glasses at all times, but if your eyes prefer a larger font you’ll be frequently turning the page because the X3 can squeeze fewer words on screen. In that case, you’ll be better off with a larger Kindle or Kobo.
There’s still no screen lighting or touchscreen functionality, but the X3’s button layout has been improved. There’s now just a single button on either side of the e-reader used for scrolling menus and turning to the next or previous page when reading, plus a pair of two-sided buttons below the X3’s screen for navigating menus and its OS.
Xteink updated the X3’s OS to include contextual onscreen labels above its front buttons, but they only appear on the homescreen.
Having to remember which of the two-sided buttons I needed to press to make a selection or jump back to a previous screen was one of my biggest frustrations with the X4. Xteink has improved the software on the X3 and added contextual onscreen labels above those buttons… but only on the homescreen, which feels like a tease. As you navigate other areas of the OS, those labels disappear. The UI is still frequently frustrating and makes it feel like Xteink wants you to earn the right to use an e-reader this small.
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